KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Bursa Malaysia is expected to see cautious trading next week due to increasing market volatility, amid uncertainties surrounding the global market, said a dealer.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investor sentiment would remain jittery amid ongoing geopolital tension in Taiwan and Ukraine, China’s lockdown following the zero-Covid policy, interruption in global supply chain as well as expectation of US rate hikes.

"However, we believed bargain hunting will emerge due to cheap valuations despite the heightened volatility of regional markets as the local bourse will be well supported by the continuing net inflow of foreign funds.

"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,490 to 1,510 range for next week with immediate resistance at 1,530 with support at 1,470,” he told Bernama.

He also noted that Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to raise its overnight policy rate by 25 basis points during the Monetary Policy Committee meeting next week, hence some buying interest may emerge in banking stocks.

Meanwhile, the recent slide in crude oil and crude palm oil prices might see some selling pressure in energy and plantation stocks, he added.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI fell 9.11 points to 1,491.18 from 1,500.29 at the end of the previous week.

As for the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 93.31 points to 10,555.53, FBMT 100 Index decreased 83.59 points to 10,309.77, FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 160.34 points to 10,599.63, FBM 70 dropped 185.0 points to 12,561.15 and FBM ACE went down 149.69 points to 4,806.68.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index shed 30.37 points to 697.07, the Plantation Index fell 96.5 points to 6,957.84 and Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.96 points to 180.22 but the Financial Services Index improved 0.32 of a point to 16,764.01.

Weekly turnover for the holiday shortened week narrowed to 9.43 billion worth RM7.9 billion from 12.14 billion units worth RM8.8 billion in the previous week.

The Main Market volume was lower at 5.58 billion shares valued at RM6.65 billion from 7.98 billion shares valued at RM7.28 billion in the previous week.

Warrants volume fell to 1.21 billion units worth RM196.70 million from 1.91 billion units worth RM294.73 million last week.

The ACE Market volume rose to 2.64 billion shares valued at RM1.05 billion from 2.24 billion shares valued at RM1.22 billion the week before. — Bernama